Status of Surface and Ground Water Resources

Last Updated On: 19/07/2012

Status of Surface & Ground Water Resources

Status of Surface Water

River System

oThe state of Punjab derives its name from 'Punj' 'Aab' i.e. the land of five rivers (flowed through erstwhile Punjab namely, Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum & Chenab).However, after the state's partition first in 1947, and subsequently its reorganisation in 1966, only Satluj and Beas flow through it, while Ravi touches it at its north border. Another small river Ghaggar flows through its southern border. The Ravi, Beas and Satluj are the Perennial rivers, while Ghagger, is seasonal river.

oThe state has two large dams, Bhakhra on river Sutlej and Ranjit Sagar on river Ravi.

oThe major barrages are at Madhopur, Hussainiwala, Shahpur Kandi, Tajewala, Shah Nehar, etc., in addition to Harike, Kanjli & Ropar which have been constructed to facilitate hydro power production and irrigation in the state.

oThe total state reservoir area amounts to 157 sq km.

Choes in Punjab

oSeveral seasonal rivers/rivulets known as ‘Choes’ are also found in the Shivalik area. These are mainly responsible for soil erosion in Hoshiarpur, Nawanshar & Ropar districts. As many as 93 ‘choes’ are reported to flow in Hoshiarpur district alone.

oIt has been reported that these seasonal rivulets used to bring down approximately 35 tonnes/ha/annum of soil. This has been reduced to about 18 tonnes/ha/annum with the efforts of Soil Conservation and Forests Departments.

District wise area under Choes and Sand in Punjab

Source: Director of Land Records, Punjab as cited in Tiwana et al., 2005

Ground water resources in the state are being used for drinking and irrigation to a large extent. The total replenishable ground water resource in the state is 1.87 mham/yr out of which 0.18 mham is used for domestic & industrial uses. The net draft for irrigation is 1.61 mham/yr (Mittal & Vashisht, 2004).

The present ground water development (ratio of gross ground water draft for all uses to net ground water availability) in the state is 145% as on March 2004 (Source: Report on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of Punjab, 2005).

According to Planning Commission, Government of India (2007-2012), in Punjab, the use of ground water in excess of recharge is leading to :

Fall in water table especially in the fresh ground water areas besides problem of water logging and salinity in south western districts.

oFall in the levels of ground water at 0.2 to 0.3 m/year) in Central Punjab.

Out of 137 blocks of the state, 103 blocks are overexploited, 5 blocks are critical, 4 blocks are semi critical and only 25 blocks are in safe category as shown in the fig. below (Source: Report on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of Punjab, 2005).

Source: CGWB, North Western Region & Deptt. of Irrigation, Punjab, 2005as cited in

The seriousness of the ground water situation can be gauged from the following facts (CGWB & Department of irrigation, Punjab, 2005 as cited in Tiwana et.al., 2007):

oThe ground water in 75% of total geographical area of the state is over exploited in terms of stage of ground water development, as exploitation is more than 100 percent,

o7% area of the state is under the category of critical and semi critical category

o18 % area of the state is safe for ground water development and only a part of this is in Kandi area zone. The rest is in south western Punjab and is saline and unfit for use.

All the blocks of various districts like Amritsar (16 blocks), Jalandhar (10 blocks), Moga (5 blocks), Kapurthala (5 blocks), Sangrur (12 blocks), Fathegarh Sahib (5 blocks), Patiala (8 out of 9 blocks) and Ludhiana (9 out of 10 blocks) were found to be over-exploited. Data indicates that the number of dark/ overexploited blocks have sharply escalated during the period 1992 to 2004 as shown in fig below.

The water table has receded at an annual average rate of 55 cm across the state (between1993-2003), however, the central districts (like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Patiala, etc.) recorded a fall of 75 cm. Further, districts like, Moga, Sangrur, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Kapurthala, are the worst hit as the water table depletion beyond 10 m increased from 3 percent area in 1973 to 95 percent area in 2005.

Water table in most parts of state has receded at the rate of 0 to 2 meters during the period June 2004 to June 2005. In some parts of blocks in districts Moga (Moga I, Dharamkot), Sangrur (Malerkotla, Ahmadgarh, Sherpur), Kapurthala (Sultanpur), Jalandhar (East), Patiala (Patran), Hoshiarpur (Mahalpur, Bhunga, Hazipur), and Nawanshahr (Banga, Aur), however, the water table has gone down by more than 2 meters (Source: Directorate of Water Resource and Environment, Punjab,2006 as cited in Tiwana et al., 2007).

In the south western parts of the state the water table has risen in the range of 0 to 2 meters in Mukatsar (Lambhi, Malout, Kot Bahi), Ferozpur (Guruhar Sahai, Mamdot, Jalalabad), Bathinda (Sangat) and parts of Mansa districts during 2004-05 resulting in water logging and soil salinity (Source: Tiwana et al., 2007).

District wise ground water availability, ground water draft and net ground water availability for future irrigation, is presented in Fig. Below. Another issue of concern is that water in a large part of the area, which indicates positive ground water balance, is saline and hence unfit for consumption.

District wise Ground Water Availability, Ground Water Draft and Net Ground Water Availability for Future Irrigation, Punjab in 2005

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